Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Hello, I'm a driver in Olathe, KS, and I have a couple things I'd like to ask.
Before I begin, I'd like to make it clear that I am not taking sides, here are just the facts as they were presented to me.

1) My neighbor has received a Right Turn on Red ticket, from a squad car, not a camera.

2) Said neighbor made the violation some distance from the pullover site, approximate distance of nearly one and a half miles from the point of violation.

3) My neighbor believes that she was not pulled over due to a traffic infringement, but rather because of some political bumper stickers on the back of her automobile.

4) Said neighbor took the case to court

5) The officer who issued the citation was sick the day of the court, causing a court reschedule

6) My neighbor wished for her mother to represent her in the court, but was told that that was not allowed. No reason was given.

The questions I have are on points 2, 5, and 6. I'm not going to go into #3 because that can open up a very nasty can of worms.

Question on #2- If the citing officer witnessed the incident, would it be protocol to turn the lights on as soon as possible, rather than waiting for a long time?

Question on #5- If the citing officer is sick on the court date, would a reschedule be legal?
2nd Question on #5- If my neighbor were sick on the court date, could they expect a reschedule the same as an officer?

Question on #6- Is it within my neighbor's rights, who is age 16, to ask her mother to represent her in the Kansas courts?

Finally, from what I can tell, at the point of violation, there is no camera to prove either the officer's statement or my neighbor's statement, so it devolves into a he said/ she said battle. A friend of the family who is a police officer told us that the dashboard camera does not come on until the police lights come on, further complicating the situation.

I would appreciate any feedback on this, as well as any comments regarding my questions.
Thanks,
Ben

2) Said neighbor made the violation some distance from the pullover site, approximate distance of nearly one and a half miles from the point of violation.
Question on #2- If the citing officer witnessed the incident, would it be protocol to turn the lights on as soon as possible, rather than waiting for a long time?
No. I can wait hours if I want. Doesn't matter. And computers in the car take a few minutes at times to get back info or sometimes dispatch is tied up.


5) The officer who issued the citation was sick the day of the court, causing a court reschedule
Question on #5- If the citing officer is sick on the court date, would a reschedule be legal?
2nd Question on #5- If my neighbor were sick on the court date, could they expect a reschedule the same as an officer?
1) Yes
2) Yes if the court clerk was informed and gave permission.



6) My neighbor wished for her mother to represent her in the court, but was told that that was not allowed. No reason was given.
Question on #6- Is it within my neighbor's rights, who is age 16, to ask her mother to represent her in the Kansas courts?
The only person allowed to represent you in a court room is a lawyer, admitted to the bar. Unless her mom is a lawyer, she cannot be "represented."



Finally, from what I can tell, at the point of violation, there is no camera to prove either the officer's statement or my neighbor's statement, so it devolves into a he said/ she said battle. A friend of the family who is a police officer told us that the dashboard camera does not come on until the police lights come on, further complicating the situation. I would appreciate any feedback on this, as well as any comments regarding my questions.
No point to any of this. A camera or video tape is not required. The officer is not going to risk his career and pension to write a ticket for something that did not happen. It happened. Your friend and maybe you, are 16 and driving. Your experience and time behind the wheel at this point is literally non-existent. Mistakes happen with new drivers and they do things they don't think they did. In NY, you must come to a complete stop before the stop line. If you do such over the line, it is the same as is you did not stop. You were not there and don't know what happened. you only know what your friend thinks happend. And as a new driver, that holds very little weight.

Thank you both for your feedback. And about the little blurb at the end after the questions, you're right, I wasn't trying to make a point about it I was just posting what our friend the cop told us. It was just me posting my thoughts about it.

You are welcome. Thanks for finding the forum. Stick around and you may end up liking us!

Ha, well I thank you and all police officers for doing a good service for our country, respective states and towns. I've always been a bit curious about the process and wanted to check out how it works, and this gave me some incentive. The all-powerful Google machine spat out some less credible websites and a bunch "promising" solutions to waive tickets, but some browsing through the pages landed me here. It's a good, respectable site, and I'm happy it's out.